While on a flight over Laos, Capt. Lance P. Sijan ejects from his disabled McDonnell Douglas F-4C and successfully evades capture for more than six weeks. He is caught but manages to escape. Recaptured and tortured, he later contracts pneumonia and dies. For his conspicuous gallantry as a POW, Sijan is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
